Simplify Your Business: How to Maximize Your Teaching and Business Schedule

Running a private music studio and teaching lessons can be a fulfilling and rewarding experience, but it can also be overwhelming. Between managing your schedule and keeping track of your students' progress, it can feel like there's never enough time in the day. However, simplifying your business and maximizing your schedule with just a few days a week can help you achieve a better work-life balance while still providing quality education to your students.

One way to simplify your business is to streamline your scheduling process. Rather than offering lessons every day of the week, consider limiting your availability to just a few days and always back to back. This not only makes it easier for you to manage your time, it gives you a block of working hours that are easy to tell prospective parents about and you always know what slot is open. Plus, your students come to expect that their lesson day remains the same. Giving the students a sense of structure and consistency. You can offer multiple lesson times on those designated days to accommodate different schedules.

Another way to maximize your schedule is to prioritize your teaching methods and focus on what works best for you and your students. Instead of trying to teach every genre or style, hone in on your areas of expertise and offer those lessons exclusively. Or create a lesson plan for specific grades associated with a level. My advanced students all follow the same path. Freshmans, is fugue year. Sophomores, is mini Sonatina year. Junior is accompanist year (they will actually learn to accompany me while I play a horn solo) and Senior year, is Senior recital year ranging from a Mozart concerto to a big Solo piece. This not only makes it easier for you to prepare for each lesson, but provides a structure to your teaching.

In addition, for the back end of the teaching. You can simplify your bookkeeping and send emails only one day a month. For me, every 23rd of the month is the day I have scheduled on my calendar to send out lesson summaries, (tuition dues) And I wait until the 1st to do my banking from depositing checks or transferring the income received in my Paypal to my bank.

Ultimately, simplifying your business and maximizing your schedule with just a few days a week can help you achieve a healthier work-life balance while still providing quality education to your students. By streamlining your scheduling process, prioritizing your teaching methods, and incorporating technology, you can become more efficient and effective in your role as a private music instructor.

Happy Teaching!

Making The Jump To Accepting Online Tuition Payments | Setting up your Business Invoices on PayPal

Have you been thinking about moving moving to more online practices? From sending out Welcome Packet emails instead of through snail mail, or monthly tuition emails, or even start accepting online payments for tuition online.

I recently l made the switch to accept payments via PayPal and let me tell you, IT HAS BEEN AMAZING! No more awkward face to face “I haven’t received tuition for the month” conversations because you can just send a “REMINDER” through PayPal. Plus you can create a template for invoices and all you do is plug in the address of who it’s to, amount, and I include a copy of the lesson summary I make as well, set a due by date and off it goes! And I’m getting all my student’s tuitions paid on time, easily!

Plus with the REPORTS it made our taxes so easy because it separated out income, outcome and even our fees, yes fees, a portion of your income will be used to pay PayPal, but you can take that information to your tax expert to have them enter it into your taxes and deductions.

Let me walk you through.

First you must set it up as a business account, because you are running a business.

Once it’s set up as a business you can set up your invoices. Click CREATE INVOICE in the left sidebar or under the drop down list of TOOLS—> Invoices—>Create Invoice.

Add your logo and business information. And save as template. I personally use the Amount only template.

Add reference information (i.e. May Tuition)

Add due date

TYPE: Services

BILL TO: Add your students information, and once you enter it once you just have to pull their info from the address book and you are good to go!

For the description portion I only use Description and Amount. That’s it look at my example below:

Then ATTACH FILE: This is where I attach my official lesson summary PDF for the individual student.

Preview, and if everything looks okay, SEND!

Also with the new Paypal.me option for those parents that still prefer to pay by check and I’m sending their monthly lesson summary via email, I have been including a link option to my paypal.me page as an option for them to just click the link and pay or still pay by check. But they have an easy option to pay online without having an invoice pre made for them.

I’ve been loving the simplicity of receiving the tuition online, and the whole process is documented easily and done!

Happy Teaching!

xo, Becky

Holiday Recitals And How To Squeeze Them In During The Busiest Time of The Year

The holidays are quickly approaching, and you want to showcase your student’s hard work! GREAT! But, how do you make time in your and all your student’s families for a recital?

1. GET A LOCATION NOW! Start calling around at churches , or facilities asking what is available before you set a date. Or if you already know a date ask specifically for that date.

2. Be flexible on TIME OF DAY. Sometimes most families have an easier time with midday recitals when they have other activities during the evening.

3. Use the opportunity to do community service. With Covid, this might not be possible, but for the future, other locations that you can perform are: Retirement or Senior Centers, Malls, Even at the Hospital. You have to get prior permission and there might be other rules attached, but I consider this a Community Service project as a way to give back to the community.

4. Pick an odd day. Wednesdays and Thursdays seem to be an odd day for many activities and often don’t have a conflict. So try these days instead of a typical Friday or Saturday.

5. Try to notify your parents AS SOON AS YOU HAVE YOUR RECITAL DATE. And know, that someone might not be able to participate, and that’s okay, it happens. Life is busy at the holidays. goal is to be as early as possible with notifying so they have enough time to put you on their calendar before it fills up over the next month.

6. Last tip: AIM TO KEEP YOUR RECITAL SHORT! 1-2 songs most, and let the parent’s know you would like to keep it short. Don’t go overboard with the recital. Just some holiday favorites, to show off the progress of your students.

Happy Teaching!

Becky

Private Music Lessons Practicing Incentives

Do you struggle getting your students to practice? The best way to help your students want to practice is through incentivizing. Give them a challenge and see what they do with it. Kids love to be challenged and when you make the reward SWEET they are more than likely going to do whatever they can to practice.

In my studio we have the 75 Days of Practicing Challenge in the spring. It really is a way ensure that they practice their recital songs. But really, everyone should reach the 75 days of practicing. The challenge is when they practice for more that 75 days.

75 Days Of Practicing Rules:

• 15 week challenge (kids are already required to practice 5 days a week anyways)

• At least 10 min practicing a day for it to count for a sticker

• Reward for practicing 75 days (5 days a week for 15 weeks): Studio T-shirt (your student becomes a walking advertiser for your studio!)

• Reward for practicing 90 days (6 days a week for 15 weeks): Studio T-shirt, candy bar of choice

• Reward for practicing 103 days ( 7 days a week for 15 weeks): Studio T-shirt, candy bar of choice, bag of candy

• Entire studio reaches 100 Days of practicing: Pizza party at Spring Recital

• Entire Studio reaches 103 Days of Practicing: Pizza party and Ice Cream Party at Spring Recital!

There are plenty of other challenges or practicing programs you can do for your students but for us this has been the way to go! Comment below what practicing challenges that you have thought about or done in your studio!

Happy Teaching!

xo, Becky

Successful Private Music Studio Performances and Recital Strategies

It’s recital season! But it’s also the end of the year and very busy schedules for your families! I’ve worked hard to have short and to the point recitals. The last thing I ever wanted was for the families of my students to spend too much time at my recitals. I’ve been there, part of over hour long recitals. It’s hard to sit through and with young kids waiting to play, it’s hard for them to stay focused.

My biggest recital featured over 20 students performing 2 songs each and the recital was less than 30 minutes. Recitals that last over an hour is hard to sit through especially for young kids with short attention spans. Continue reading to learn a few of my strategies for simplified but amazing and short recitals!

Strategies to have a smooth recital

• Work with your students starting a few weeks BEFORE the actual recital about what to expect. Including, where they will be sitting (having the students sit in recital order is helping in knowing when they go next) How to get on and off the stage or to the area where they perform. What they should do with their music before and after they play and what direction they will be bowing to/ helping them understand where the audience will be. Practice it in your studio space before multiple times for at least 2 weeks before your recital date.

• It’s okay to have multiple recital days to keep recitals short or if space is limited at your recital location. This is best for combined studio recitals of multiple teachers or if you have more than 40 students performing or multiple groups. Have your parents sign up for whichever day works best for them. It’s best to have a mix of beginning, intermediate and advanced at each recital though. While it might be more inconvenient for you, to arrange multiple recital days, think about the attendees and how long they will have to wait if you have a long recital.

• Don’t feel obligated to talk a lot. Less is more with recitals sometimes especially if you have a lot of students performing. A simple introduction of each student and their song is enough since you provided a program. It’s so easy to talk about how amazing each student is, but that is something that can be done after with the parents. Create a showcase for the recital, for students that have hit milestones. Like 3, 5 and 10 years of lessons with you, or the students who practiced the most on your practicing challenge.

• Do, have something for everyone, like a single flower, and invite each student to collect it from you at the end. Bonus: it sets up the opportunity for a studio photo that you can use on your social media to promote your studio.

• Do ask for help from the parents in setting up or cleaning up after the recital. Many hands makes for little work.

In the end, the parents will thank you for a shorter performances especially if there are younger siblings in the audience. Mine always have and it gave more time for our potluck reception that follows every recital.

Happy Teaching!

xo, Becky